Acoustical appliance



Dec. 2, 1952 K, J, BAlLEY 256.197,86

ACOUSTI'CAL APPLIANCE: v Filed June 50, 195o l 2 SHEETS- SHEET x ATroRNEYg Dec. 2, 1952 K. J. BAILEY l 2,619,866

ACOUSTIGAL APPLIANCE Filed June 30, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 I A /5 z/ Z5 zo INVENTOR fnzefk Bailey ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 2, 19.52

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ACOUSTICAL APPLIANCE Kenneth J. Bailey, Great Falls, Mont.

Application June 30, 1950, Serial No. 171,501

z claims. l

This invention relates to an acoustical appliance and more particularly to a tone cabinet for electric or electronic organs.

A primary object of this invention resides in the provision of an acoustical appliance adapted to be associated with an electric or electronic organ, which will impart thereto all the desirable qualities of a pipe organ while retaining all the advantages of the electric or electronic type.

A further object of this invention is to provide a tone cabinet which enhances tonal qualities of such electric or electronic organs.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of such a cabinet which imparts improved diifusion of tone, reverberation and resonance to an electric or electronic organ.

As conducive to a clearer understanding of this invention it may be here pointed out that ever since the advent of the electric and/or electronic organs, certain desirable qualities have been missing, particularly at high volume levels unless the acousti-cal properties of the room or auditorium or organ chamber were ideal. Diffusion of tone has been one of these problems, resonance and reverberation other problems. An important purpose, therefore, of this invention is to provide diusion, resonance and reverberation through a system of tuned pipes so that these electric and/or electronic organs can be installed in the worst acoustical conditions and still provide all the desired tone qualities at all volume levels. The resonant pipes also lend to the ltone certain harmonic values that are natural to the pipes themselves and these, in turn, improve and enhance the tone. Y

By experiment it has been found that su-ch pipes could be made to speak and that this could beldone with a transducer without blowing the pipe as in the pipe organ. It was further found that this could be done at high volume levels and that the pipes then speak their own voice. It was, however, found that this was not to be desired when used in conjunction with an electric and/or electronic :organ because in speaking its own voice, the pipe voice is at such Ia high level that it obscures or drowns out the harmonic structure of the organ itself and as a result many ranks of pipes would have to vbe used in order to procure the same voices that are available electrically or electronically at the console. Therefore, in this tone cabinet the volume level of the speakers is kept below the level necessary to make the pipes speak and so the pipes become resonant chambers and reverberant chambers rather than speaking pipes. It should be noted, however, that in resonating the tones exciting them, the pipe does develop certain harmonic structures according to its design and this does improve the resultant tone.

An important object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a tone cabinet constructed as described.

Still other objects reside in the combination of elements, arrangement of parts and features of construction, all as will be more fully pointed out hereinafter and shown in the accompanying drawings wherein there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of this inventive concept.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevational View of one form of tone cabinet embodying features of the instant invention, parts thereof being broken away,

Figure 2 is a reversed top plan View of the construction disclosed in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Figure 2, as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional View taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Figure 3, as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of a structural detail.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, there is generally indicated at I0 a housing or panel adapted to contain a plurality of transducer or loud speaker units, such as conventional to an electronic organ, and more fully described hereinafter, upon which are mounted a plurality of organ pipes. In the preferred embodiment of this invention the organ pipes number thirty-six, of which the rear row is comprised of graduated wooden pipes I I. The second frontal row is comprised of metal pipes I2, while the front row is comprised of metal pipes I3 of a dissimilar metal, to provide differing tonal qualities.

The rear rank of pipes I I is comprised of conventional wooden pipes, each provided with a tuning slide I4 of conventional design, the position of which is adapted to be varied relative to a slot I5 in the pipes, to tune the pipe to the desired degree or pitch. The forward rows I2 and I3 of metal pipes are provided with metallic collars i6 and I1 respectively, adapted to be moved longitudinally thereof to correspondingly vary the pitch of these pipes to the desired degree.

As best shown in Figures 1 and 3, the wooden pipes Il are provided with lips I8 offset as best shown in Figure 3, and reflector boards I9 as is conventional practice, while the second row of pipes are also provided with lips and the front row of pipes I3 are provided with lips 2l. The positioning of the lips and the arrangement thereof is governed by the pitch of the tubes and is important to the proper tuning of the` organ; Each individual pipe is provided with a transducer unit as is conventional with an electronic organ, each wired as by wires 26, to the.

conventional organ unit, each individual Vtransducer being pitched to a tone which corresponds to the tone to which the pipe is attuned.

The arrangement is suchrthat the panel, IB is positioned over the correlated Vand assembled Y transducers in such manner that each tonal speaker of the electronic organ is correlated relative to the pipe attuned to the same pitch.

Whilefin this embodiment of the invention there are disclosed thirty-six pipes, more or less may be utilized according to the desired tone range. Since the second, fourth and eighth harmonies are octaves of the fundamental, it has been found that by taking care of the lower tones in this way the upper register of the various electric or electronic organsv are well taken care of in the same pipes. One of the outstanding advantages of this type of tone cabinet is that due to the reinforcement of resonant pipes much less amplified power is needed to adequatelytake care of a given area or volume.-

All of the transducers 25 are connected to the conventional amplifier of the electricV or electronic organ and operate at the same time. However, when a note is played on the organ, the speaker under the pipe tuned to this note starts a column of air within the pipe oscillating.l Since the pipe is in resonance with this frequency, the tone is greatlyreinforced. As is well knownin thepipe organ art, the Wave lengths are broken upinto fifths, thirds and so forth so that the harmonics of the fundamental are present accordingto the way the pipe is designed. When the `tone is released the vibratingair column in the pipe does not cease abruptly but decays gradually, thus providing natural reverberation of the fundamental frequency and its harmonics.

The reason that more than one set of pipes is usedisthat since each set is composed of different material andconsequently'is voiced,V differently, the eiect of three or more sets of pipes resonating gives a very much desired choral effect.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided animproved acoustical appliance which provides an electric or electronic organ with all the advantages of a pipe organ without detracting in any way from the fundamental advantages of such electric or electronic organ and which accomplishes all the objects of this invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As many embodiments may be made of this inventive concept and as many modifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood 4that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with an electronic organ, a plurality of transducers, and a plurality of tone resonating pipes rising from said transducers, each pipeincluding an inwardly projected lip adjacent the lower end thereof with an opening at the lower end of the lip, each pipe being open at` eachend thereof and lattuned toa single .tone whereby to produce a resonance of said tone,l the volume level of said transducers being kept below the level necessary to cause said pipes tospeak whereby saidpipes serve as resonant andrever berant chambers for said transducers.

2. In combination l.with an electronic organ, a

plurality of transducers, a plurality of tone resonating kpipes rising-from said transducers, each; pipe including an inwardly projected lip adjacent the lowerend thereof with an opening atjthe lower end of the lip, said pipes being open at l each end thereof and means on'each pipe where--A by said pipe may be attuned-'to resonate at a single tone and-a harmonic of said single tone, :the volume level of said transducers being kept below the level necessary to cause saidV pipes to speak whereby said pipes serve as resonant, andreverberant chambers forl said transducers.

KENNETH J. BAILEY.V

REFERENCES. CITED The following referencesare of recordinthe' file of this patent;

UNITED STATES'PATENTS "l 

